


Lucidian Rim

by literalfuckinggarbage



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, Caleb Widogast Deserves Nice Things, Caleb Widogast Has Issues, Caleb Widogast Needs a Hug, Caleb Widogast's Backstory, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Essek Thelyss Needs a Hug, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I'll update tags as I go, M/M, POV Caleb Widogast, Self-Loathing Caleb Widogast, Slow Burn, The Drift (Pacific Rim), Touch-Starved Caleb Widogast, no beta we die like chuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29617572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literalfuckinggarbage/pseuds/literalfuckinggarbage
Summary: When Bren Aldric Eremendrud was a boy, whenever he felt small or lonely, he’d look up at the stars, wondering if there was life up there. Turns out, he was looking in the wrong direction. When alien life entered our world it was from the deep beneath the Lucidian Ocean, a fissure between two tectonic plates. A portal between the dimensions, a breach.To fight the Kaiju wreaking havoc on the world, mankind created monsters of their own. The Jaeger Program was implemented. Jaeger. Zemnian for hunter. Monsters designed to put these otherworldly abominations back in their place.One pilot couldn’t handle the neural load to pilot the Jaegers alone, so a two pilot system was implemented, one on the left side, one on the right. The two pilots had to link their minds to work in perfect synchronous harmony to ensure that the mechs could run properly. With technology being advanced from cooperation and a worldwide ceasefire to stop this problem, the Pan Lucidian Defense Corps was born.
Relationships: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 40
Kudos: 82





	1. The Breach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to anyone who loves Blumendrei.... Someone had to die for Caleb's backstory to echo Raleigh's... (& I'm not counting it as major character deaths just since they're npcs...)
> 
> ALSO to anyone who has spent as much time staring at the Exandria world map as I have, please ignore every comment on geography I will make. I am _butchering_ the map to put every city on the coast, for plot reasons. (Basically I plonked the Empire down in between Nicodranas and Rosohna.... It works for the fic, just don't think about it too hard....)

When Bren Aldric Eremendrud was a boy, whenever he felt small or lonely, he’d look up at the stars, wondering if there was life up there. Turned out, he was looking in the wrong direction. When alien life entered our world it was from the deep beneath the Lucidian Ocean, a fissure between two tectonic plates. A portal between the dimensions, a breach. 

Bren was fifteen when the first Kaiju landed in Port Damali. The wave of destruction was unimaginable to a little boy from the coasts of the Dwendalian Empire. He didn’t understand how something could wreak so much havoc and take so much firepower to stay down. Even its _blood_ was corrosive. The shambles of Port Damali would never be the same.

All wars and infighting between countries ground to a halt as mankind united under a common enemy.

To fight monsters, the people of the world created monsters of their own. The Jaeger Program was implemented. Jaeger. Zemnian for hunter, named for the place where the first prototypes were constructed in the Zemni Fields of the Dwendalian Empire. Monsters designed to put these otherworldly abominations back in their place.

One pilot couldn’t handle the neural load to pilot the Jaegers alone, so a two pilot system was implemented, one on the left side, one on the right. The two pilots had to link their minds to work in perfect synchronous harmony to ensure that the mechs could run properly. With technology being advanced from cooperation around the world to stop this problem, the Pan Lucidian Defense Corps was born.

Worldwide they worked to find matches too, pairs of people who were drift compatible, who could pilot these massive mechanical monstrosities. It was found that familial bonds were often best, but occasionally those who were good friends or even couples would work as well.

The Dwendalian Empire didn’t believe that was enough.

The studies of Trent Ikithon showed a common factor in non-familial drift compatible bonds. They had usually gone through many shared or similar experiences, and shared trauma seemed to yield the most powerful bonds. 

So Ikithon created the perfect team.

Three children from the small port town of Blumenthal were taken to Rexxentrum. Blumenthal had been taken under the rule of the Empire after the war, and now supplied the Empire with whatever they needed. Soldiers, fish, food, and these three children were among many things usurped by the king. They were selected for their skills, their brains, and trained to be the perfect drift compatible team.

The three of them ate together, slept in the same room, shared the same lessons, shared the same pains and punishments. Three became one, and they turned into an indomitable force. Wulf and Astrid each controlled an arm on the left side of the body, with Bren at the right, calling the shots and keeping them moving as one to implement the battle strategies they’d been taught since they were children.

The Jaegers were a success. They started winning.

And then it all went wrong.

At 2am one cold morning, seven years into the war against the Kaiju, Bren, Astrid, and Eadwulf were deployed to take out a Category 3 Kaiju, the biggest one they’d ever seen. The day had started like any other, with them jogging down to suit up, each wearing their personalized red jackets, emblazoned with the crest of the Dwendalian Empire over the breast and a massive Phoenix across the backs.

Normally Bren loved the feeling of the link, settling into the drift with the two people he was closest to in the world and piloting Phoenix Fire with them. They were heroes in the Empire. They thought they could do no wrong, gods among men.

As soon as Bren saw the Kaiju they were up against, he felt his cocky attitude fade away. But there was no hesitation from Wulf or Astrid. They were fighting the beast just like normal, and they didn’t seem to have a worry in the world.

This time, Ikithon had told them to save the head. They knew what would happen if they failed their commander.

But this Kaiju had an armored chest plate that they couldn’t penetrate, not with their projectiles or their fiery gauntlets.

It was as if it had learned from all their previous attacks, seeing through every strike they could think of. As Wulf tried to hit it with a blast from his gauntlet, it caught the fist mid air before it could even finish charging up, wrenching it from the arm and tossing it miles out to sea.

Bren tried to call out to them through the drift, tried to keep them further away from the shore, but Wulf and Astrid didn’t seem to care. They were more concerned with fulfilling their duty to the Empire, completing their mission so that they could please Ikithon. Not a single one of them wanted to return to the Shatterdome empty handed, but Bren was starting to feel a pit of dread in his stomach.

He was doing what was right.

He was doing what was necessary. They needed to continue to study these things, and this was the way. It didn’t matter if it was a tricky battle. Jaegers could be repaired. Towns could be rebuilt.

Right?

The trio didn’t know the beast had some sort of projectile blast as well, some corrosive acid, similar to the horrible blue blood, that came from a sack in its throat. It began to eat away at the protective core around their Conn-Pod, leaving them all vulnerable. It got more and more desperate as the fight went on, taking riskier moves and keeping two steps ahead of whatever they predicted. 

It wound back for another wave of acid, and Bren knew it was too close to the shore, that they should just take the hit, but then the city would be defenseless. There was no good option.

People were going to die, all because of them. Because of Ikithon.

They were able to dodge out of the way of most of it, though Bren could _hear_ the screaming from the shore, and he knew the damage had already been done. He knew they should have just been going all out on this thing from the beginning. That was their job. That was how you dealt with monsters.

The Kaiju was already rearing back for another attack, its vicious mouth and pointed horn-like protrusions lunging directly at the Conn-Pod, like it knew where to aim. Like it knew where all their weaknesses were.

He felt the terror and the burst of hot white pain as Astrid was ripped away from them. Bren felt the _rage_ that surged through Wulf as one of their own had been taken, and they both agreed to stop trying to save any part of the Kaiju. They both wanted it dead. Wulf from anger, and Bren from cold fear. But the drift held steady. He wasn’t in control of Astrid’s abandoned arm. He only had access to one gauntlet, and Wulf with nothing but a stump on the other hand. The suit was trying to reroute functioning to Wulf, but it was taking too long.

Despite being sure that they would both die, Bren fired up the gauntlet and aimed directly for the head, shoving the fist of the Jaeger halfway down its throat. Wulf did his best to help, surging forward and knocking the thing off balance as Bren tried to blast it apart. Ikithon was yelling in their ears to save the head, to do as they’d been ordered. There was no hint of grief, of loss, as one of his pilots he’d raised for seven years was brutally killed.

Tears burned down Bren’s cheeks, hot and shameful, threatening to cloud up his helmet.

They were just kids.

This was a mistake.

Everything Bren had ever done felt like a mistake.

The hours of torture he’d endured with Astrid and Wulf, and now she was just _gone._

There was a deafening sound, as all the soundproofing of the Conn-Pod was gone, and for a moment, Bren thought they’d made it out alive. For a moment, Bren thought the gauntlet attack had worked. They’d done it.

As it fell, it grabbed out at the Conn-Pod, trying to keep itself steady. With the weakened state from the corrosive fluid, its claws rent through metal like butter.

Wulf was turning to Bren with a grin of success, relief, and vengeance. He could feel the underlying grief, but the other pilot was satisfied with bringing it down.

And then Bren felt the blinding pain, deep red this time, and the utter fear as the claw slashed just close enough to take Wulf along with it.

Bren panicked, stumbling backwards in the suit, controlling the lot of it himself. His head ached with physical pain, but there was nothing compared with the complete loneliness and emptiness beginning to consume his mind.

He had to wait for the heartbeat of the Kaiju to stop until he could unplug himself. The suit was rerouting the entire neural load to him, and he could feel blood begin to drip down his nose. From his ears then too, sticky and red.

The little blinking light stopped, and a flatline sounded to accompany the ones for Wulf and Astrid.

With that, Bren and Phoenix Fire collapsed a hundred yards from the shore, with Trent Ikithon screaming in his bleeding ears.

Bren woke up later, disoriented, reaching out for Astrid and Wulf only to remember hazy images of pain. He was strapped up to more machines than he would have been back inside Phoenix Fire, all beeping lazily to prove he was alive when he shouldn’t be. That he survived, alone.

He spent his hospital stay in a trance, vaguely understanding that people were trying to talk to him. There was Veth, coming to visit him, holding his hand, crying sometimes, Bren thought, though it was hard to tell. Beau came once, but looked uncomfortable as she dropped off a small stack of books. She didn’t come back. Dairon, some figurehead from the Shatterdome, was there a few times. They assured him Ikithon was no longer in charge.

That it would be safe when he came back.

At that, he laughed for the first time in what felt like months but might have only been weeks. His impeccable sense of time was shattered, and nothing made sense. And laughing _hurt._ Where even was he? Why weren’t his parents visiting alongside Veth?

Why did no one else from the Shatterdome bother to come?

He healed slowly, still lost in a haze of pain medication as he was finally discharged from the hospital. There was a car in the parking lot, waiting to take him back to the Shatterdome, they said.

He managed not to laugh at that. It still hurt, and they might try to stop him. It was clear that he was a nuisance to the hospital staff, and they didn’t want to deal with him any longer. How much of that was the truth and how much of that was his own self loathing, it was hard for Bren to tell.

Once he left the hospital, he ran all the way home. Something about his shoes pounding on the pavement as he wound through the familiar streets was comforting, even as his chest ached in protest, muscles atrophied from weeks of bed rest. Still, it reminded him of doing the same as a child, back when he had no responsibilities to Ikithon or anyone else. Nothing but a few chores to do before bedtime, and a curfew of ten o’clock. Back before the war, when he, Astrid, and Wulf had not a care in the world.

He ran until his feet ached and the streets looked to look familiar, but as he rounded the corner his breath caught in his throat.

All he found was rubble, burnt away and corroded by sickeningly blue acid. Kaiju blue. Like the injections in his arms, meant to bring him closer to Wulf and Astrid.

Two others who were dead because of their stupidity.

There was no one else left to share the guilt. Bren hadn’t done anything completely alone in seven years.

But now, he sank to his knees on the threshold of his childhood home, brought to barely gravel beyond the front doorway.

There was a reason his parents hadn’t come to see him in the hospital.

There was a reason.

And it was _his fault._

Everyone he ever loved was dead and it was his fault.

Bren broke. 

Bren was completely alone.

There were discussions, there were questions he couldn’t answer coherently, and there were white walls and small rooms and needles and people in scrubs talking in condescending voices and Bren _hated_ it.

Slowly, he came back to his senses.

He realized everything he’d done.

The only one found to be at fault by the Dwendalian Empire was Ikithon, for delivering the order. His punishment was that he was taken out of the Jaeger program and replaced by someone picked by the Cobalt Soul. Ikithon was able to return to his research at the Cerberus Assembly with just a slap on the wrist.

King Dwendal had turned a blind eye to how the pilots were made, and it seemed he was giving Ikithon a pass in this case too. If any other nations had an opinion about how the Empire ran its Jaeger program, they remained silent.

Bren was still broken.

Once he was going to be released from the mental hospital, Ikithon’s men reached out to him, hoping to recruit him to a new project. As soon as he heard the news, Bren bolted, three days before his planned release. He was on the run with no money, no food, hospital whites and socks with strange rubbery tread instead of shoes.

But he was smart and relatively quick, even though his physique never really recovered after his stint in the hospital. The months spent on the street, unable to find food or shelter beyond a rare subway grate at night, didn’t help either.

At least he no longer looked like anyone Ikithon would want anything to do with.

Without Bren caring at all, the Jaeger program was shut down. They moved to a bare bones team stationed in Nicodranas, and in eight months they would lose all government funding.

He wasn’t pleased or upset about the news. But he did know the other plan, the wall, was far fetched. The job he’d managed to land, with his new name, Caleb Widogast, where he’d started with hard labor and they soon found his brain worked much better than his slightly atrophied body, was to fix the wall. This was something he could try to do to redeem himself.

To fix not only the wall, but some of the guilt and shame inside his heart.

Far-fetched indeed, but he had some sliver of hope.


	2. Back to the Shatterdome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb escaped it all, but the Kaiju didn't stop, and that wall wasn't going to stop anyone.

“Hey, asshole!”

Caleb frowned, turning to the source of the voice from his past. “Beauregard?”

“Still just Beau. You still just Bren?” she asked, slightly out of breath from jogging up to him. If he remembered her well, she’d probably been running around the entire construction site looking for him. The thought made him shudder. Even at his peak, he never could have competed with her.

He shook his head and pulled out a badge. “Caleb Widogast, humble construction worker. So kindly leave me alone.”

“No way in hell, dude. And that says you’re more of an architect than a construction worker. I can still read, you know.” Her face was indignant and bright and optimistic and brought back more memories than he cared for.

“What do you want, Beauregard?” he sighed.

Beau rolled her eyes at his insistence on calling her full name. She’d always seemed to like it, back at the Shatterdome in the Empire. But those weren’t memories he could dwell in. “We want you to come back.”

“We?” Cold fear gripped the back of his neck, bringing back clammy hands he’d avoided for years.

She nodded, very carefully putting her hand on his elbow and letting go of the badge around his neck. Somehow it still felt like she was putting a noose around his neck. “Me and Dairon. You remember them? We want you there to help train new cadets. We’ve got a pilot coming in from Xhorhas, used to be amazing before his father died, and we need some candidates who aren’t going to embarrass the whole fucking Shatterdome.”

Caleb lifted an eyebrow, trying not to betray his panic at the thought of returning to a Shatterdome, even if the only one operating was in Nicodranas, not the Empire. “You want me? To train children?” It was a ludicrous thought. He was terrible with children, even before he broke.

“They’re not kids, not really. They’re all over twenty five at least. The other pilot’s older, like you, so we figured older was better, and we’re not in the practice of sending kids out there, at least in Nicodranas.” Her voice dropped to a softer tone. “It’s better there, really. And we could use someone who knows what not to do.”

He almost snorted. “Right. That’s all you need to be a valuable teacher.”

“I mean my boss, Marshall Dairon, you know Dairon got promoted? She wants you for like, numbers and research and crap too. But _I_ want you to help with the kids. They’re a bunch of fucking assholes and they’re going to embarrass us in front of this cool guy from Xhorhas.”

Caleb sighed softly. “Not all pilots are rockstars, Beau. You should know that.” He gestured vaguely to his current state. Though no longer starving after securing a job working on the design of the wall, he was far from the height of his ability. He didn’t actually want to return to it, but that was beside the point. Or part of the point. Pilots were only any good until they weren’t, and people died.

“Yeah, yeah, you look like shit. C’mon. It’s better than this shithole.” She got a little glint in her eye. “Veth is there. You never met Yeza and Luc. They’re adorable all together.”

His heart lurched for his old friend. “They found their way back to each other?”

“She said you helped her do it, but won’t elaborate. Not that she ever talks about you to anyone but me. No one needs to know who you are there. Just me and Veth. You can relax and do some real good.” Beau stepped closer, squeezing her grip around his arm until it was almost uncomfortable. “You and I know that this wall won’t do jack shit. You’ve been out there, and now you’re designing the damn thing?”

“It’s… not ideal,” he said, looking at the blueprints in his arms. They couldn’t possibly build something strong enough in the amount of time necessary. Workers were stretched thin as it was, safety precautions were a nightmare, and the Kaiju coming through the rift were only getting bigger and bigger. “I’m working on a solution.”

“Any reason you can’t do that in Nicodranas? We can set up a transfer, since this is all government sanctioned,” she said, that glint still in her eye. “Maybe Veth could give you some tips. You two always worked well together. And I heard the new pilot is just as nerdy as you are. Maybe he’ll be so grateful you found him a copilot he’ll help you out too.”

Caleb really did snort then, rolling his eyes at her. “Right. Like an accomplished pilot from Xhorhas will want anything to do with me. But you do have a point, at least about Veth.”

“I know I do,” she grinned. “The food sucks, we barely have funding as it is, there’s hardly even a skeleton crew, but, _but_ we have a plan.”

He frowned at her, looking at his own blueprints. They were theories, at best. At worst they were useless pieces of paper with strategies they could never implement in time. “I have been working hard here. I have a life, a cat.” Only one of those things were true.

“You can bring your cat, and then you can have a life, a cat, and a decent plan,” Beau said, looking like she knew she had him.

A plan… A plan sounded nice. A plan sounded more concrete than anything he’d had in a while. 

So he took a deep breath, attempting the grounding exercise the psychiatrists tried to make him use. It didn’t really work, most of the time, but sometimes it helped. And it wasn’t like he could ever forget them. “Fine.” 

Beau’s face split into an even wider grin. “Great! Grab your shit, meet me back here tomorrow, seven a.m. Or oh seven hundred or whatever military bullshit.”

He felt a real smile tug at the corner of his mouth for a moment. Being around friendly people was something lacking in his life, not that he deserved their companionship in the slightest. “Only if you agree to carry some of my books.”

“Glad to know nothing’s really changed, Widogast,” Beau said, clapping him on the shoulder before stalking off in her abrasive way.

Of course she was horribly wrong and everything had changed, but it was nice to think otherwise. For her, at least. 

Caleb wasn’t sure why he hadn’t expected the helicopter when it arrived the next day, but he certainly hadn’t. 

Beau was the only passenger beyond the pilot, a tall quiet woman who simply waved as they piled his bags inside. His life was consolidated into a suitcase, a duffel bag, and a backpack. It wasn’t much, but he had lost everything after running from the hospital.

The cat carrier was the real pain. Frumpkin hated it and so did he, but he would probably have an anxiety attack for the entire journey if his cat was loose in the cabin of a helicopter. 

But the journey from Port Damali to Nicodranas wasn’t that long, and Frumpkin stopped yowling after a few minutes once he realized it wasn’t getting him anywhere. The tall woman, Yasha according to her ranger uniform, helped him with his bags as Beau pointed things out around the Shatterdome. It seemed quite similar to the one in the Empire, at least in basic layout, and Beau wasn’t really saying anything he wouldn’t have been able to figure out on his own.

In fact, she mostly just seemed flustered in the presence of the tall woman, who she trailed after like a puppy once they deposited Caleb’s things in his quarters. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to close the door before he heard another voice.

“Hello, neighbor,” a very tall man with long pink hair said, stooping under the door frame of the room across the hall. “Come in for a cup of tea, would you? You look like you could use some. And maybe a scone?”

Caleb’s stomach betrayed him and let out a low growl. “Ah, perhaps for a minute,” he said, despite wanting little more than to curl up on the regulation bed and sleep until he was needed again. There wasn’t a time difference between Nicodranas and Port Damali, but traveling always exhausted him regardless.

“Would you mind if I brought my cat? He’s been cooped up for hours,” Caleb asked, showing the carrier and the leash. “I’ll keep the leash on.”

“I’d love to meet your little friend,” the man said, a broad smile spreading across his face.

Caleb nodded and got Frumpkin’s harness on before heading back across. The cat began to sniff everything, looking about as uneasy as his master.

“Name’s Caduceus Clay, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I haven’t had a neighbor in a while. I’m a medic here.” The tall man ducked in the doorway and led him into the space, identical in shape to Caleb’s own but filled with a small table, and the little counter had a hot plate and a pile of scones instead of unpacked suitcases.

Caleb shook the proffered hand, “Caleb Widogast. I’m helping with some of the engineering, as well as training some of the cadets.”

“Oh, lovely. My sisters are in the group of cadets this year. Not sure if they’ll be compatible with Mr. Essek, but they might be able to drift together when they’re older.” Caduceus sounded perfectly calm about the whole thing, putting Caleb a bit more on edge.

He fidgeted near the doorway until Caduceus motioned for him to sit. Frumpkin hopped into his lap, stretching his legs and making biscuits in Caleb’s pants. “Danke, I’m sure they’ll be wonderful.”

“Calliope’s great. Clarabelle too, but she’s a wild child. Are you a pilot yourself?”

“Strategy expert,” he said, omitting truths and accepting the cup of tea as offered. “Nothing too important.”

“Now, I’m sure that’s not true,” Caduceus said, his voice low and kind. Caleb almost felt condescended to, but realized the man was completely genuine.

He didn’t really know how to respond to such a thing so he drank the tea instead. “This is quite good.”

“Why, thank you! My family grows the trees themselves, back in the Empire,” Caduceus said, at ease with Caleb already, though he was an utter stranger. He launched into a small story about the home he’d grown up on, and how his sisters and he had left to do their best to help humanity.

Caleb listened politely and ate two scones along with his tea, both of which were so good he almost felt himself drooling. Before he left, Caduceus wrapped up two more in a napkin. “The dining hall closes early and it’s always good to have snacks.”

“You’re too kind,” Caleb said, but he wasn’t one to turn down free food.

He just grinned and gave Frumpkin a small scratch at the base of his tail, right where he liked it best. “I try, Mr. Caleb. I think you’ll be quite happy with our little family here.”

“I-Thank you,” Caleb said, unsure what to think of that. He didn’t deserve another family, after what had happened the first time.

With that, he slipped inside his room and closed the door. Frumpkin allowed him to slip the harness off and immediately curled up on the pillow on his bed. The room wasn’t what he remembered from the Empire, and that was more than welcome.

He, Astrid, and Wulf were supposed to spend every hour together, and that had included shared quarters. Eventually they’d pushed the beds together and all slept in a pile, desperate for some comfort from all the tortures Ikithon made them endure. Being back in a Shatterdome wasn’t helpful for his nerves, but it did already feel different. This room was much smaller, and only had one bed. Dairon wasn’t breathing down his neck like Ikithon. Caleb hadn’t even seen them.

Instead he was left to his own devices, full of tea and scones. Methodically he began to unpack his limited belongings, though it was mostly research. He was used to living out of a suitcase when it came to other essentials, in case he needed to leave in a hurry. That would be just as important here.

He only got halfway through sorting out and unpacking his books before his phone started ringing. “Hallo?”

“Hey, asshole.”

“Beauregard. What do you want?” he sighed, rubbing his temple already.

“Dairon wants you to have a real tour. Come back out of hiding and I’ll have someone show you around the place.”

He chewed his lip for a moment, but this was right from Dairon. There was no disobeying a direct order. “I will be out in five minutes.”

“Good,” she said, and then the phone beeped as she hung up.

He made sure everything was settled before heading back out to the main floor of the Shatterdome. Perhaps Dairon actually wanted to meet him now. Or perhaps he was just being thrown to some intern who barely knew where anything was either. Regardless, this was an order.

So he walked, looking for anyone familiar.

A girl with blue hair who looked too young to be wearing a ranger’s uniform bounded up to him. “You must be Caleb!” she said, a huge grin across her face as she eagerly shook his hands.

He stared blankly at her. “Uh, ja?”

“Welcome! I’m Jester and that’s- huh, I lost Fjord. Whatever, his loss. It’s so good to meet you!” she said, still shaking his hand.

He blinked, “It is… It is nice to meet you as well.”

She finally released his hands. “It’s wonderful to have another addition to the family.”

“I’m not sure I’m-”

Jester cut him off, “Whoever you are, the minute you join this program, you’re part of a family. Whether you like it or not, Caleb.” She drew out the “a” in his name, which sounded strange with her Nicodranian accent. “Anyways, I don’t actually have a lot of time; I’m supposed to be patrolling soon, bye!”

And she ran away just as fast as she’d arrived, leaving Caleb in a stupor.

“YOU!” a voice screeched across the Shatterdome and Caleb heard the running of someone with very short legs across metal, straight towards him.

Before he had a second to prepare himself he was tackled into a hug from Veth, who didn’t even come up to his shoulder in height but still almost brought him to the ground. He winced at the contact at first, partly from shock and partly from pain, but then felt himself begin to smile. Missing her had been hurting him more than he knew over the past few years.

But she was upset, chest hitching as she buried her face in his coat. “You fucking disappeared on me!”

“I had to go-” he cut off the excuse, taking a breath and just winding a hand in her hair. “I’m sorry, Veth.”

“I found them. My family. I found them because of you. You were right, they got relocated here after getting separated in that refugee camp, I found them, we found them. You just weren’t there to share it with me.” A stream of unsaid words came flying out as she explained how she found her family, how he’d managed to find the last missing piece, right before his world was turned upside down.

He swallowed at the reference, letting her talk and trying to ignore the dread in his gut just at the memory. Being back in a Shatterdome certainly didn’t help, and he wasn’t excited to be here. He wasn’t entirely sure why he agreed to it at all, though it was the best chance of actually figuring out a wall that might work.

But for now, he could stand next to Veth, enjoy her arm around his waist as if he might bolt again at any second (she wasn’t exactly wrong), and look at the pictures of her, Yeza, and Luc on her phone before she showed him on the tour of the place. Her husband and son were just as adorable as she’d said, and he softened slightly. At least he’d managed to do one thing right in his life.

It was a light balm, compared to the gaping wound he’d created, but it was a start. A little something to dull a bit of the ache inside him.


	3. Ranger Essek Thelyss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A tour of the grounds and its denizens

“Mr. Caleb, it is an absolute pleasure to meet you,” Yeza said, dropping a vial of Kaiju blue, albeit gingerly, and rushing over to shake his hand once his own were ungloved.

“Yeza Brenatto, the pleasure is mine. Please call me Caleb. Anyone who cares for Veth as you do is as close to a friend of mine as it gets,” he said, shaking the hand of the shorter man, surprised by the firm grip and the sheer level of enthusiasm.

Yeza shook his head, “I can never thank you enough; Veth told me about how you helped her track Luc and me down after we were separated-”

“Seeing you together and happy is more than enough thanks, I assure you,” he said, deflecting again. Veth already treated him too kindly; he didn’t need anyone else with the same feelings. Her affection alone was overwhelming.

Veth came over and kissed Yeza’s cheek, wrapping an arm around his waist. “Just as cute as I told you, right Caleb?”

Yeza blushed and spluttered, allowing Caleb a moment just to nod and take in the laboratory space. There was a sample of a Kaiju brain preserved in a large tube, there were slices of various tissues, and large chalkboards full of various equations. The small vials, samples, and alchemical smells were comforting in a way he hadn’t expected. He’d missed this.

“Is this studying the frequency of Kaiju emergences from the breach?” he asked, trailing a finger over the dusty surface of the chalkboard under the conclusion. He didn’t know what else it would be, but he just hoped he was wrong.

Nodding, Yeza slipped from Veth’s side and picked up a piece of chalk. “Things are accelerating and I’m keeping an eye on the patterns. At first things seemed random, timing, location, all that, but we’ve been tracking it all the same. And well,” he raked a hand through his hair, “things aren’t looking great.”

“When have they, these past few years?” Caleb mumbled, able to scan the math. Things were accelerating far too fast. Much too quickly for the wall to be finished, for the Jaeger program to be shut down. For humanity to be operating without a sound strategy whatsoever.

Veth just walked up behind them, “You two can get all gloomy about chalkboards on me. Have you heard the Marshall’s plan, Caleb?”

“Nein, they have not told me yet.”

She pulled him over to look at a set of blueprints. It was exploring the best way to attach an explosive device to the back of Uncanny Assassin, one of the Jaegers that had been brought to Nicodranas after a stint stationed in Stilben. It was the first and only Mark-5 Jaeger, the fastest ever created. Caleb had been looking forward to taking a look at her when he finally made it to the launch bay.

“A bomb?”

“We’re attaching two thousand four hundred pound thermonuclear warheads onto Assassin’s back, detonating the equivalent of 1.2 million tons of TNT into the breach. And whatever pilot you help train, and two other Jaegers will be running defense with Vex and Vax. The Russian, Jester, her dad is some big crime boss. He got it for us.” Veth pointed out the specifications of the bomb written alongside the blueprints.

“What’s different about this time? What have you done to figure out how to get the breach open and stabilized enough for it to be destroyed?” Caleb asked, knowing the names of all the Jaegers and pilots that had died trying the same.

Yeza pushed aside one chalkboard to show another. “We know that the ‘Throat’, the passing between the breach and us, is atomic in nature. I’ve predicted that the increased traffic with the accelerated Kaiju appearances will force the breach to stabilize and remain open long enough to get the device through and collapse its structure, at least some point soon.”

“Isn’t he smart, Caleb?” Veth grinned, nudging his elbow.

He just chuckled softly, pleased to be on the other end of the praise for a moment. However, it seemed that Yeza was about as bad at deflecting as he was. “Veth, this is nothing. We need more information, but the Marshall has taken this and is just running with it.”

“It’s our best chance. And we’ll keep researching until the very last second. We can figure out how to make this work, especially with Caleb’s help!” She beamed at the two of them. “Now, Caleb I have to show you the rest of the place before Dairon comes to yell at me.”

Caleb said his goodbyes to Yeza and agreed to join them for lunch or something at some point. Yeza was insistent that Luc wanted to meet him too, though Caleb was still worried about interacting with a child. He imagined he’d be spending quite a bit of time in their lab, and hoped he wouldn’t be encroaching on their space or acting like a third wheel. At least he knew the two of them both loved Veth, though in different ways. Even after all this time, he still felt like she was his sister.

He followed her around the Shatterdome, glad once again that she was the one giving him the tour. She knew exactly what he wanted to see.

“Isn’t she a beaut?” Veth asked, grinning at Caleb as they stared up at one of the latest acquisitions in the launch bay of the Shatterdome. Her tour had been basic after the research lab, highlighting the only places Caleb really cared about: the dining hall and the place they held the Jaegers.

He sighed softly, nodding at her without tearing his eyes away from the sight. There was something about a Jaeger that just resonated in Caleb’s blood. Even with all the sour memories, the sheer power a Jaeger held, though man made, felt like a force of nature. There was something intoxicating to it all, something he missed dearly about it. He could never admit that out loud however, since he would never drift again.

“I am quite partial to her myself,” a smooth voice answered Veth’s question from somewhere behind him, making him jump. Caleb turned to see a stunning man, dark skin, silvery gray eyes, and bleached white hair perfectly styled.

He wasn’t sure if the man or the Jaeger was more beautiful.

“Essek Thelyss. And that’s Fortune’s Favor.” The man nodded at the Jaeger, a fond look in his eye.

“Caleb Widogast. You're one of the only pilots to drift solo in a Jaeger." He recited the knowledge quietly, barely registering that others would hear him. Essek’s father had died, according to the reports, and he brought the Shadow Hand back to shore alone.

He nodded. "The only one who's still alive and working."

Veth was about to protest as a gut reaction, but Caleb cut her off with a hand on her shoulder and looked back to the Jaeger. "She is lovely.”

And she was. The lines were sleek and built for speed, one of the quickest Mark-4s built, if memory served. Caleb’s always did. The pictures did nothing for the beauty of the machine however, now caught in the late glow of the setting Nicodranas sun, the whole thing lit up like mother of pearl.

“I’d take credit for the design, but I mostly worked on the mechanics inside. The aesthetics were handled by others.”

Caleb blinked and turned back to the man in surprise. He knew Essek Thelyss, former pilot of Shadow Hand. He didn’t know he did anything beyond piloting Jaegers, despite Beau calling him a “nerd.” 

“You’re an engineer as well?”

“I think I always was a better engineer and scientist than I ever was a pilot, but I believe we’re becoming a rare breed,” he said, though there was little humor in his voice. Caleb swallowed. They were indeed. He was the only Mark-3 pilot still alive, if the news reports were accurate.

But Veth just nodded, patting Caleb’s arm and changing the subject back to engineering. “Caleb’s worked on Jaegers too! He’s very smart!”

“Ah, you were always better at working on them than I was,” he said, shrugging off the praise. It always made him uncomfortable how Veth acted like he walked on water, even back before he broke.

She rolled her eyes and shoved him. “Don’t be ridiculous, Caleb. It was your idea first to put a nuclear reactor core to power a Jaeger. That’s how we repaired Fortune’s Favor. She’s better than new now.”

Essek raised a brow and looked at him. “You designed a nuclear vortex turbine?”

“I drew up some preliminary plans for it, but they were very rough. And that was over two years ago. I think you still deserve all the glory, Veth,” he said, ruffling her hair and trying to deflect again. He didn’t want this attention. He wanted to go back to his room and not talk to anyone for at least three days. Returning to a Shatterdome wasn’t exactly conducive to the way he was used to living.

But Essek was taking a half step closer. “You were thinking about nuclear power Jaegers two years ago? No one was talking about them then.”

“He was the first! He just didn’t tell anyone but me,” Veth said proudly.

It was true, though he would have told someone if he hadn’t broken soon after. He drew up the plans not three weeks before it all happened.

“Where were you working? I feel like I would have heard of a Caleb Widogast,” Essek asked, somehow taking another half step closer.

Caleb didn’t know whether to bolt or to flush at the interest and proximity, but his pulse started racing.

An alarm blared somewhere in the distance, startling him and saving him at the same time. Fear gripped his heart, but logically he knew that an alarm for a Kaiju sighting would be much louder. There would be more panic, from Veth and Essek and everyone else in the launch bay.

“Widogast! Cadets are coming down from lunch. Time for you to meet all the little bastards.” Beau jogged over to Caleb, always in a rush. “Hey, you met Thelyss. Cool.” She hooked her arm around his and started halfways dragging him away. He was grateful, though still a bit adverse to the sudden touch.

She didn’t seem to care much, mumbling in his ear, “Maybe he won’t look at _you_ like you’re a fucking moron like everyone else.”

“Does he really think you’re not smart?” Caleb asked, wondering if she was just put off by his proprietary air, or if he’d actually said anything.

She rolled her eyes. “He’s a condescending asshole. I mean, he never actually says any of it, but you can see it on his face.”

“So you don’t like his face.”

“I’m right, Widogast,” she grumbled. “Even if you think he’s cool.”

Caleb rolled his eyes, “I am here to research ways to stop the Kaiju. If he is a researcher himself, that benefits me. I don’t think anything about his personality one way or the other.”

That wasn’t entirely true, but Caleb didn’t really feel anything but unsettled by Essek taking an interest in him. Hopefully he could skirt around the truth and just work with Veth to find a solution to stop the war. Yeza seemed like someone he could get along with as well, though he would feel guilty working in the same space as them. They were so lovely and kind and he never would be.

Beau wasn’t really listening to his defense, too busy listening to something else. “Was that your stomach? Did Veth not get you any lunch?”

“I’m fine, Beauregard.”

It wasn’t like he deserved to eat anyway. So long as he stayed alive long enough to fix his mistakes, the state he made it there didn’t matter.

That didn’t stop Beau’s punch from stinging like hell. “That’s bullshit, Widogast, and you know it. C’mon, the cadets can get started without us while you grab a sandwich or something.”

“They have sandwich bread here?” Caleb asked, genuinely surprised.

Beau grinned, “Being at the biggest port city on the Lucidian has its perks. No rationing in Nicodranas. So whenever Caduceus isn’t in the med bay he’s busy baking.”

“I suppose people don’t get hurt all that often,” he said. The silence between them was the unspoken thought about how getting hurt in a Jaeger these days almost always meant you didn’t come back at all.

He had plenty of scars to prove an exception, but he was glad that the med bay didn’t see much use.

“Jester works down there too sometimes, along with the regular staff. Not all the time, but she was trained as a nurse before becoming a ranger. You met her earlier, yeah?”

“Blue hair?” Caleb asked, though he doubted there were two Jesters in this place.

Beau nodded, “That’s the one.”

“She found me, ja. She is very…”

She laughed, “Yeah, that’s Jester alright. She’s a lot.”

“Indeed.”

Rounding a corner and slipping into the kitchen behind the dining hall, Beau clapped Caduceus on the shoulder. “Hey, Caddy Shack, can you make Caleb a sandwich?”

“Oh, hello Mr. Caleb. I’d be happy to,” he said, smiling down at Beau. He was a full head and a half taller than her, towering over both her and Caleb.

Caleb was preoccupied with the overwhelming smell of the kitchen. It wasn’t that they had bread here. It was that Caduceus was pulling a fresh loaf of bread out of a large oven, turning it out of a big piece of stoneware and cutting it into slices for a sandwich. Seeing the wide eyed look on Caleb’s face, he grinned, “I’ve got my own sourdough starter from back home. Helps when we run out of yeast. You want the ends while I make the sandwich?”

“Ja, bitte,” he said softly, eyes wide as Caduceus passed him the still warm crusts. It warmed his hands and his soul, and for a moment he wondered if it really was worth coming back here.

Caduceus piled the two slices of bread with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and some kind of herb spread. “At this rate we’ll get some meat on your bones before Beau starts training you to death.”

Caleb chuckled, effectively brought back out of his moment of bliss. No amount of fresh food was enough to convince him this was worth it, even if the bread did taste like something straight out of his childhood. But soon enough he was holding the sandwich wrapped in a napkin and heading to the training room. He could hear the smacks of bō staffs before he even rounded the corner.

Beau clapped him on the shoulder, grinning wide, “Ready?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments & kudos give me life <3
> 
> this story updates every Sunday!!


	4. The Cadets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beau introduces Caleb to the cadets, and Caleb meets the rest of the assholes.

Beau led Caleb through the Shatterdome and stopped a moment after winding back through the launch bay. It seemed like everything was connected to this place, which made sense. Someone could be here, where they were needed to get the Jaegers out, at a moment’s notice. It was better designed than the warehouse that was converted quickly into a Shatterdome in Rexxentrum.

“Did you get a chance to meet Fjord?” Beau asked, pausing in front of Divine Smite. The huge Jaeger was the only Mark 1 still in service, and he knew Fjord and his old partner, Vandren had been defending Port Damali after the first attack almost since the beginning of the war. Now that Vandren had disappeared, Jester seemed to have taken his place.

Caleb knew them all by name and news stories, but there was nothing he could do to prepare for Jester Lavorre meeting him a second time and coming to hug him, almost crushing his sandwich. “Caleb! It’s good to see you again!”

“I saw you a few hours ago,” he mumbled dumbly, still in shock at the display of intimacy from a stranger. A stranger who had declared him family earlier that day, just because he was in the program.

“Still,” she insisted, looking to Fjord, walking up behind them. He was tall and big boned, but a little lanky. Nowhere near as tall and skinny as Caduceus, but not quite as big as Caleb was expecting. It seemed he had vitiligo, with a shock of white hair growing from a patch of skin with no pigment right at his widow’s peak. The change in color was more pronounced than it looked in the news articles Caleb had read. “Fjord! Come meet Caleb!”

“Hi there, Caleb. Sorry for Jester. And your sandwich,” he said, extending a hand for a firm, warm handshake.

Caleb just shrugged, shaking back in what he hoped was just as professional of a handshake. “I’ve seen much worse. It’s nice to meet you.”

“And you. I heard you’re training new cadets?” he asked, putting an arm around Jester’s shoulders as the woman pouted. It looked less like a protective motion and more like one of perhaps holding her back from being too physical again.

Nodding, Caleb looked to Beau, “I believe I’m headed there now.”

“You are,” Beau said, stepping in the direction of the training room. “But it’s always good to see you two.”

“Don’t be a stranger, Beau!” Jester called after them. “Or you, Cayyleb!”

Caleb gave a small wave, still confused by the general congenial atmosphere here. Everyone was so kind. It was entirely unfamiliar, and he wasn’t sure how to reconcile that with his past memories of Shatterdomes being places of torture and pain.

There wasn’t enough time to ruminate on that though, as Beau led him into the training room and waved to the cadets fighting around him. “Time to meet all the little jerks.”

She pulled out her notebook and walked around the perimeter of the room to allow Caleb to see each child as they fought each other. Beau was correct in saying none of them were actual children, but he was still on edge.

“So, that’s Kiri, Gail and Austin, that’s Kynan, and over there’s Calliope and Clarabelle. First three are siblings, but Kiri’s adopted,” she said, waving to two similar figures sparring and a slightly younger girl sitting on the edge with her bow staff and a shock of dark hair covering her face. She almost reminded Caleb of Veth when they first met. Another boy, a bit taller than the lot of them was just watching the others fight.

“Then Calliope and Clarabelle are Caduceus’s younger sisters. You’re going to train them all as possible pilots. They’re hoping Kynan will be able to drift with Thelyss and we’ll have two other sets of viable pilots on standby.” Beau was reading out of her notebook and pointing out the kids sparing in the room.

Caleb’s stomach was turning as he looked at them all. Knowing their names didn’t make his unease any better. None of them were that young, probably all at least over twenty, but they still looked like children from where he was standing. They should be in college or finding out they hated their first jobs and their first roommates. Not preparing to kill or be killed.

He swallowed. “And what do you think?”

“I think we’ll be lucky if Kynan can drift with Vax, who picked him up out god knows where. It’ll give Vex a break and maybe even a chance to retire and finally marry that J-Tech engineer she’s been ogling. Calliope is your best bet for Thelyss, but the Schuster kids might have a chance if they can learn some decent strategy.” She looked up from her notebook and her expression didn’t exude confidence. “I think if we had three years we’d get six amazing pilots who could take down anything we threw at them. I also think we probably have a few months, maybe weeks before shit really hits the fan.”

Caleb looked back at the recruits and the sparring matches. Kiri had switched out for a sparring match with Gail, and Calliope was taking a water break while Kynan sparred with her sister. The sets of siblings did seem to be relatively well matched, and he thought the adoptive Schuster, Kiri, might work well with the lone Kynan. They both seemed quick and rather sneaky in their maneuvers.

"Right. Well. I know you. Will you fight them so I might watch?"

Beau's grin looked like it might split her face in two. "You want me to beat the shit out of those little punks?"

"Essentially." Caleb shrugged. If they were going to get better, they couldn't be discouraged with one bad fight. This would be a good test of emotional endurance as well. 

He raised his voice and changed his posture from disgraced engineer to that of one who might be worthy of instructing future pilots. “Cadets. Line up please. Introduce yourselves.”

“Calliope Clay,” said the first Clay sister, who did look remarkably like the medic Caleb had enjoyed tea with earlier.

“Clarabelle Clay.” Both girls looked similar, but Clarabelle, the shorter one, had dyed her hair into a wild pink and teal mane. It was different from Caduceus’s but Caleb could see they had probably both purchased the same brand of pink dye. She’d need to cut it a bit to fit her helmet on, but they could cross that bridge later. Maybe Veth could make her a bigger helmet.

“Austen Schuster.”

“Gail Schuster.” The biological Schuster siblings were short and quiet, having a little trouble making eye contact and seemed altogether a bit timid for this specific training program.

A young girl with dark hair, somehow shorter than her already short siblings stood silently until Gail nudged her. “Kiri Schuster.”

“Kynan Leore,” said the last boy, a bit older than the others. Caleb could see why they thought he might be more compatible with Thelyss, but from what he’d seen so far, the kid was far too impulsive to go out in a Jaeger. It would take more than a few weeks to train that out of him.

“Gut. I am Caleb Widogast. I will be helping Beauregard teach you strategy for fighting the Kaiju. I would like to observe how you fight an opponent you do not know, one who probably out matches you in terms of both skill and brute force. Every battle with a Kaiju will be similar. You will never know what you are up against until you begin fighting.”

He turned to Beauregard and her notebook. “I’d like you all to fight Beauregard, one at a time. The others can wait in the next room. It will do no good if you can strategize while watching her fight your compatriots.”

There was a look of panic from Kiri and Kynan, though most of the others kept a straight face as they thanked him and made their way to a back room.

Over the next hour, Caleb watched Beau pin each kid to the mat at least twenty times. It was difficult to remain optimistic, but at least they all showed promise. Despite having nowhere near enough experience, they took each hit as a lesson and tried to keep going.

Like Beau said, if they had a few years, they’d be golden.

“Why aren’t you a candidate?” Caleb asked Beau as they cleaned up.

Beau kicked at the mat she was rolling up. “Well, Thelyss hates me, like he hates everyone, and the other pilot who needs a new partner to drift with… She… She lost her last pilot in the drift too. Dairon’s hoping to convince her to try drifting with the new cadets, but she’s a little…”

“I understand.” Caleb shuddered to think about going back in the drift. There were many memories he could picture vividly enough, but it was another thing to relive them entirely. He would never drift again, and for that he was grateful.

Beau nodded and took a deep breath. She clearly didn’t want to think about it either. “C’mon, let’s get some dinner with the rest of the crew. You can meet Vex and Vax and everybody else.”

Beau clapped a hand behind his back and began leading him back to the mess hall without caring to listen to any of his protests. Veth and Yeza would have left for the day already, needing to get home to Luc. Only the people who lived in the Shatterdome would be eating there, and he didn’t really know anyone there but Beau. He didn’t think that would count as an excuse, and he rather doubted that telling her he wasn't actually used to eating this much food would work either.

She might even force him to eat more.

He stayed silent as Caduceus piled food onto a tray for him. At least someone seemed to realize he wasn’t in the mood to talk.

Essek was nearby, though not close enough for anyone to expect Caleb to be friendly, so he remained quiet, watching the man take his tray and leave the mess hall. Beau and Caleb followed along, just catching a man with long dark hair saying something intended for Essek to overhear.

"I'm just saying, there's no bad Jaegers. Just bad pilots."

Beau immediately smacked the man upside the head, hissing in his ear, "I know you're trying to get a rise out of Thelyss, but you're just being a fucking asshole."

Caleb felt guilt roil in his gut, especially since to make her point Beau looked over at Yasha, also leaving to eat her food alone.

He really was a failure.

He probably always would be, but he had to try to help. He had to do something to make his survival worthwhile.

Beau was introducing him. He needed to wave.

He didn't think he could manage that so he just nodded to everyone.

His arms itched.

His guilt continued to swirl around him in a cloud until there was something fluffy in his lap. Looking down in surprise, Caleb half expected to see Frumpkin, escaped and wanting to comfort him. Instead there was a massive dog head in his lap, worried and sniffing at his arms as he scratched them.

"Down, Trinket-" a woman said, who appeared to be the twin of the man from before. That must mean they were Vex'ahlia and Vax'ildan, pilots of Uncanny Assassin. "Sorry, darling, he's usually much better with new people."

"It's alright," he said, voice almost completely swallowed by the din in the mess hall. He looked back down to the beast of a dog. It looked like a newfoundland, but he was much more used to identifying cats. Still, he scratched behind the dog's ear where it was Frumpkin’s favorite and the dog broke out into a happy pant.

"Oh, he likes you," Vex'ahlia cooed, reaching over to pat Trinket’s head. “He’s a sweetheart. I’m lucky they let me bring him around the place.”

“They do?” he asked, pleased for the ability to look at the dog and not have to make eye contact during a conversation.

She hummed her assent, “As long as he’s on his leash and not pissing anyone off.”p

A short man in a J-Tech uniform said under his breath, “Or pissing on anything.”

Vex'ahlia reached over and smacked him with her spoon. “Ignore Scanlan, darling. He’s just an ass.”

“Hey!” the shorter man said, looking to the tall man beside him who just shrugged. An even shorter woman wearing another J-Tech uniform said something to him that Caleb couldn’t hear, and he just started mumbling his apologies to Vex’ahlia.

“Bet you could bring Frumpkin around, if you got him a leash,” Beau said over a huge mouthful of food.

“Who’s Frumpkin?” a woman asked. She was also wearing a J-Tech uniform, but had a pair of headphones that lit up and had cat ears over her red hair. This was a strange group. Caleb guessed from the emblem of a dagger on their sleeves that they were all the techs for Uncanny Assassin.

“My cat. He’s in my room now,” he said, voice probably still too quiet.

But Jester practically screeched, “You have a cat? Oh my gosh, can I meet him!?”

He swallowed, not liking the attention and poking his meal with his fork. “Ja, maybe later, if I can really keep him with me-”

“I bet he’s so super cute, I’m so excited, I haven’t pet a cat in forever-”

Jester went on, and Caleb was able to eat some of his meal silently, still being watched by Trinket. Being able to pet the large dog was helpful as he forced himself to eat enough of the food to be able to leave without any second glances.

The others chatted as well, leaving him in peace and discussing random things that Caleb cared little about. Smalltalk had never been his strong suit, and he wasn’t about to start now.

He looked around and realized more than half the pilots in the Shatterdome were sitting at this one table. Between Essek, Fjord, Jester, Vex’ahlia, and Vax’ildan, and whoever else they got to pilot Fortune’s Favor and Celestial Sentinel, there rested the hope of all of mankind.

Suddenly the food on Caleb’s plate was somehow even less appetizing. Luckily some others had eaten quickly and he was able to slip away, sneaking back to his quarters. No one stopped him, so he assumed he’d been dismissed for the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!! comments fuel my soul <3
> 
> this story updates every sunday!

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!! this will update every sunday <3
> 
> comments are my lifeblood


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